The Boundary House


The Boundary



House and



Gardens


what's happening here

A life lived from the heart of a house
Ashby with Oby  Norfolk  England

"The main range is four bays long and gabled with end stacks (a third off-centre chimney has been demolished since 2019). It is two storeys high and is built of brick with a pitched C20 plain tiled roof. There is a multi-phased extension to its south, which is attached to a further C20 extension. A small single-storey addition on its north gable end has been recently demolished. The former walled orchard has been paved at the north end and two swimming pools introduced, alongside late C20 ancillary structures. The farm buildings are now highly altered or replaced with later C20 structures, though fragments of mid-C19 walls survive. Internally the house has some historic features including a window glazed with late C19 painted glass panes, some timber beams, and surviving C19 joinery such as plank doors. "  Historic England 30 March 2022.


"The nearest designated heritage assets are a Grade II-listed war memorial and the Grade II*-listed parish church of St Edmund, both around 450m north in the hamlet of Thurne. " Historic England 30 March 2022

Garden Plans and My Garden History   


Carolyn Cowell

In former years we have enjoyed produce seasonally and for preserving from orchards spread around the grounds of the house and further afield in a small orchard probably once a cottage garden. My early childhood included walking the garden and its paths with my grandparents when there were still plants under glass, some remaining beds with hydrangea, peonies, small carnations, pinks, a lilac bush and some ornamental trees with nesting birds and a distinctive variegated holly tree which was less noticeable by the density of shrubs that existed then. Home produce also included berries. It is not unlikely that many varieties could grow there and are believed to have done so, species which would tolerate the heat from burning them up in and during the summer months. It seems as if the garden had been somehow abandoned and was also used but was no longer fully functioning or used to its potential. 

I am skeptical about whether the front of the house is on the west side or the east. For decades a track (north to south) across the sloping lawn with a garden border to the left followed a line from the village of Thurne via Thurne Skirts which joined up with the public path along both banks of the boat dyke. Although enjoyed unofficially by various tourists and walkers during the summer months this access has in recent years been restricted and rerouted to pass through natural terrain where, lapwings and marshland nesters lost a significant amount of space which was submitted to an anti flooding scheme. It would rather seem to me that the entrance of the house was on the east side while the west with its marshes was to the rear of the house, but tricky.

The east side where there has been both private garden and disappearance of a metallic double gate and pillar of bricks these years, could be repaired with some further planning to make clearer the path to the house. There is plenty of space for many other types of planting, hedging and further plotting and planning of the self sufficiency and garden areas including my own interest of home grown herbs and some spices for various uses including using fresh leaves when preparing food and in drinks.

Garden Page

While ongoing tree planting took place on adjoining land and meadows, there are few trees to provide cover to garden birds now or for mini beasts and fungus which healthily appears close to the house. Some trees need replacing which were lost in storms and through other deterioration over years last century, even before, especially round the borders of some unwalled garden areas. Traditionally rows and clusters of oaks and other taller deciduous trees provided height and a habitat for owl species and shelter for natural mammals, during the winter months.

Some days I think it is one thing and then another but I am convinced that there must have been some considerable space used for the garden produce at this homestead and yet changeable depending on the number of people living or staying there with something left over for a home shop mentioned in Ghosts of the Broads.

Considering that The Boundary House might have been used as a retreat rather than a main home by every owner in its earlier days, I like the idea of a cottage garden.

I am looking forward to hearing more from my sons who are usually keen to be in the garden and William has studied some horticulture; Initially to getting some landscape design advice and learning to structure my plans and bring them into reality for my contribution to the legacy. It seems a lifetime ago since I could don a pair of gardening gloves and get down to some digging and planting.

Boundary Farm

We are aware that Boundary Farm was a working farm with a tudor animal or grain barn close to coach housing or repair workshops until the mid seventies this century. Yet also there remain the flint and stone walls of the memorably thatched stable and further stables next to the farm buildings. There is evidence to suggest that there were a few farms spread around the village, and these appeared to take the names of the people who worked them such as Harrisons Farm, but the names are not easily matched to any kind of recognisable layout. My library research notes were lost after I took considerable time piecing together a timeline of the history of the property sometime after 2000 from parish records and from directories.


www.norfolkffa.co.uk for sister website


BAA British Archaeological Association
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